Rhineland-Palatinate
There are 163 Verbandsgemeinden in Rhineland-Palatinate, which are grouped into the 24 districts and subdivided into nearly 2200 Ortsgemeinden.
Most of the Verbandsgemeinden were established in 1969. Formerly the name of the administrative units was Amt. Most of the functions of municipal government for several municipalities are consolidated and administered centrally from a larger or more central town or municipality among the group, while the individual municipalities (Ortsgemeinden) still maintain a limited degree of local autonomy.
Read more about this topic: Verbandsgemeinde